It is so simple to pick up a jar of hummus from a store. But it is almost as simple to prepare hummus yourself and know exactly what has been added. You can do everything from scratch, including soaking and boiling the chickpeas, but I usually don’t feel this is necessary.
The chickpeas from a jar, especially if I choose an organic brand, do it for me, but in case you do have extra time you can soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil until tender. It makes sense for me to cook your own chickpeas if you need a lot of them, so I sometimes do this for bigger parties, but if I am just hungry for a quick beet hummus I prefer having it in 5 minutes instead of the next day!
However, I do prefer to roast the beetroots at home. I do this quite often anyway, so I usually have leftovers for hummus too. To roast the beetroots, I wrap them in foil and bake for an hour at 200°C (about 390°F). Then I leave them to cool and rub the skin off. If you want a shortcut on roasted beetroots, you can use the boiled ones straight from the supermarket.
After you have all your ingredients ready, the actual hummus-making process takes around 5 minutes. This beet hummus is delicious slathered on everything from sandwiches to salads, enjoyed with fresh veggies or just plain!
Simple Beetroot Hummus
Cooking time: 5 minutes!
Ingredients:
1 jar of chickpeas
1 larger roasted beetroot (or leftover pieces from yesterdays dinner)
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ cup good quality olive oil
Salt, to taste
Instructions:
Add the chickpeas and beetroot to the blender, squeeze over the lemon juice and add most of the olive oil. Blend until smooth.
Season with salt and cumin, blend some more and have a taste. Add more of what is needed. If the hummus is too thick, you can add a little bit of water.
If ready, then serve with fresh veggies, use on a sandwich or add to salads.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves healthy food and cooking and for her, these two are often the same thing. Cooking meals from scratch, you know exactly what goes in it and even without holding back with sugar or fat we end up using a lot less compared to ready-made frozen stuff from the supermarket.
She does love to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!"
Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: http://www.kahvliga.ee/.
Live with more energy and vitality. Eat healthy with recipes like these, and practice yoga to keep your body and mind in optimal shape. Never tried yoga before? Explore with this entry level 5-class Beginner Yoga 101 series!